Crystal Palace may have sold “fantastic” ace too soon, he’s now as valuable as Olise.

It is possible that the team is not fully prepared to play the offensive and progressive style of football he was renowned for in the Bundesliga. Nevertheless, he should be able to help players like Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze succeed. However, he probably would have preferred to have a previous player who was sold too soon and is now worth as much as the Frenchman.

Michael Olise’s valuation at Crystal Palace

After making an impression in the Championship with just 46 appearances for the Royals, Olise scored seven goals and provided twelve assists, Palace purchased him from Reading in July 2021 for a comparatively low cost of £8 million.

The Hammersmith-born jewel had to overcome rejections from Chelsea’s Cobham, Arsenal’s Hale End, and even a brief stay with Manchester City’s youth system before making it to the Premier League.

After joining the team, though, he was thrown into the deep end and made 31 appearances for Patrick Vieira in the FA Cup and Premier League in 2021/22, tallying eight assists and scoring four goals.

His goal total dropped to just two goals in 40 games the next season (including this incredible freekick), but he made up for it with 11 assists and finished with a goal every 3.07 games.

The 22-year-old’s season has been unusual because he has only made 11 appearances for the team due to two hamstring injuries. Despite this, he has scored six goals and provided three assists in those 11 games, meaning he has averaged a goal involvement every 1.22 games.

Olise’s incredible form, age, and the fact that he inked a new contract with the South Londoners last summer have all contributed to CIES Football Observatory’s valuation of him at about €40m, or £34 million.

The fee a club would have to actually pay to get the tricky winger out of Selhurst Park is likely much higher than that, but Olise’s current CIES valuation matches that of a former Palace player, one that perhaps should have been kept at the club.

Alexander Sørloth’s valuation at Crystal Palace

Alexander Sørloth, a nine-year-old Norwegian, joined the Eagles during the 2018 winter transfer window for a meager £9 million from FC Midtjylland in Denmark.

Before moving to England, the 22-year-old was enjoying a fantastic season with the Danish powerhouses, recording 15 goals and dishing out nine assists in 26 games. Sadly, things there didn’t work out.

In that first year, he made just four fruitless appearances for the Eagles before losing his place in the team, and in the following season, he joined Belgian side Gent on loan in the winter window after scoring one goal and providing one assist in 13 appearances for Palace.

His failings in English football clearly impacted his confidence, as he could only manage five goals and three assists in 22 appearances for the Belgian side.

It looked certain that Steve Parish and Co would have to bite the bullet and sell the Norwegian for a loss at some point due to his poor run of form. Still, they opted to send him on one more loan to Turkish Süper Lig side Trabzonspor for two years in the 2019/20 season, a decision that paid dividends a year later.

With a final-minute goal to unseat Georgian striker Shota Arveladze as the club’s top-scoring foreign player of all time, the 6′ 5 behemoth proved to be a man possessed in Turkey, finishing the season with 33 goals and 11 assists in just 49 appearances.

With his season in Turkey demonstrating that there was a clinical nine in there somewhere, teams came knocking on Palace’s door and instead of trying to see if the Norwegian could replicate that sort of form in England, the club opted to sell the in-demand player for a fee of around £20m – which they would split with Trabzonspor due to the original loan deal being for two years – to Bundesliga side RB Leipzig.

It was clearly a move that excited the East German club, as then-sporting director Markus Krösche said, “he’s a physical and technical player, who’s strong in the air and a good finisher. Alexander has all the attributes you need as a footballer.

“He had a fantastic season in Turkey, where he showed himself to be a goalscorer and provider.”

Alexander Sørloth’s valuation in 2024

Now, as excited as Krösche sounded, Sørloth’s move to Leipzig ultimately failed. The former Palace forward spent just one full season at the club, scoring six goals and providing three assists in 27 games before spending the next two years on loan with La Liga outfit Real Sociedad.

In his two seasons with the Basque club, the powerful striker made 90 appearances, scoring 24 goals and providing five assists, establishing himself as a reliable if unremarkable forward in Spain’s topflight.

However, upon the completion of his second loan deal, Leipzig decided they wanted to cash in and agreed to a €10m – £9m – deal with Villarreal, who had just sold Nicolas Jackson to Chelsea.

The Yellow Submarines must be overjoyed with their decision to recruit Sørloth as he is having his best season since 2019/20 and has already racked up 14 goals and four assists in just 29 games to give him a goal involvement every 1.8 games on average.

He’s also scored in some big games, such as home and away against Barcelona and against Athletic Bilbao.

His last few years of consistent performances combined with his brilliant form this season has seen his valuation skyrocket in recent months, and according to the CIES Football Observatory, he is now worth €40m – £34m – or in other words, as much as Olise.

Ultimately, Palace’s decision to sell the 51-capped international made sense at the time, but with the form he’s shown over the last few years, and this season in particular, it would’ve been great to see what Glasner might have been able to get out of him.